PRINTER'S NO. 2805
No. 349 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY VEON, LAUGHLIN, SANTONI, READSHAW, G. WRIGHT,
MELIO, ROONEY, WALKO, BELARDI, JOSEPHS, HORSEY, BELFANTI,
SOLOBAY, TRELLO, DeLUCA, STEELMAN, JAMES, YUDICHAK, STABACK,
McGEEHAN, BEBKO-JONES, WANSACZ, YOUNGBLOOD, GEORGE, MARKOSEK,
FREEMAN, McCALL, WOJNAROSKI AND GRUCELA, OCTOBER 31, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
OCTOBER 31, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing the President to establish a Federal resource
2 center in Pennsylvania to aid workers and retirees in
3 processing claims under the Energy Employees Occupational
4 Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000.
5 WHEREAS, Around the country thousands of workers from the
6 Cold War era are dying from illnesses they contracted building
7 the country's nuclear weapons; and
8 WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States enacted the Energy
9 Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000
10 to make disbursements to those workers; and
11 WHEREAS, The Department of Labor is administering the Energy
12 Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program and along
13 with the Department of Energy has opened ten resource centers
14 around the country to assist workers and their families in the
15 claims process; and
16 WHEREAS, Twenty-six facilities that contracted with the
17 Federal Government to produce nuclear weapons and nuclear
1 weapons components from the 1940s to the 1960s were located in
2 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and
3 WHEREAS, None of the resource centers opened in Pennsylvania
4 even though thousands of workers and their families from those
5 26 plants may be eligible to apply for compensation; and
6 WHEREAS, The workers and their families will have to prove
7 their illness, detail their employment history and reconstruct
8 that history to the best of their recollection, which the
9 Department of Labor will have the opportunity to disprove
10 through the use of Internal Revenue Service and Social Security
11 records; and
12 WHEREAS, The Federal Government spent 50 years denying
13 wrongdoing and blame for the diseases and cancers these workers
14 contracted from handling radioactive materials and toxins; and
15 WHEREAS, Many Federal officials and Members of Congress
16 fought to change the Federal Government's position and
17 ultimately were successful; therefore be it
18 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
19 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the President to
20 establish a Federal resource center in Pennsylvania to aid
21 workers and retirees and their families in processing claims
22 under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
23 Program Act of 2000.
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